Shannon Dildine posted photo on Facebook.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A North Charleston police officer has had his position terminated because he posted a photo of himself wearing Confederate flag boxer shorts to Facebook.
Shannon Dildine was dismissed from the North Charleston force for smiling while wearing the underwear with a pattern which “symbolizes hate and oppression.”
“On Tuesday … the City learned that you posted on Facebook a photograph in which you were wearing only a pair of boxer shorts emblazoned with the image of the Confederate flag,” Police Chief Eddie Driggers wrote, according to The Post and Courier.
“Your posting in this manner led to you being publicly identified as a North Charleston Police officer and associated both you and the Department with an image that symbolizes hate and oppression to a significant portion of the citizens we are sworn to serve,” he continued.
The letter also said that the move undermined the sergeant’s ability to handle criminal cases in which minorities were involved “since defense counsel can reasonably be expected to use the photograph to call into question the [sic] your motivation in making the arrest,” reported ABC News.
The incident comes at a time when uproar over the controversial nature of the Confederate Flag is reaching a fever pitch, which was catalyzed when Dylann Roof, 21, murdered nine individuals during a racially motivated, calculated multiple-homicide at a prominently black church in Charleston.
Dildine, who was a sergeant and with the force since 1996, is said to have 10 days from the date he was fired to appeal against the decision, according to International Business Times.